Goodbye Avakai
So with a little more than a month gone since the release of AB, it’s been a trying time for me. The film doesn’t seem to have set the cash registers rolling and there isn’t too much hype or hoopla about it being ‘a good film’…BUT….
…it’s still running in theatres 5 weeks on, all over A.P.! amazing!
So money wise it seems like becoming a ‘safe’ venture for theatre owners and distributors alike. That’s a relief.
While I can understand AB was an ‘un-conventional’ type of Telugu cinema, I was hugely surprised by the lukewarm response of film critics in A.P, that compared so differently with reviewers from the north, who praised what the film stood for etc etc….
I have been spending time, trying to understand what has been happening with AB, I can’t come up with definitive conclusions, except a huge belief that it will be re-discovered when it makes its way to TV and DVD, which is sad…but it’s a matter of huge hope for me…
The things I have heard from people, the general feedback is….there isn’t enough comedy, and the villains were bumped off too early…..well, AB was never meant to be a rom-com nor was it ever going to end in a violent climax, this was something I wanted from the start itself…..
Other extreme opinions have been, that I should have ‘avoided’ having the protagonist as a ‘muslim’ (considering that the majority of audiences in A.P are ‘not muslim’), instead I should have simply interchanged the ‘religious’ faiths of the protagonists…. Amazing!
Some people think, this is the aftermath of ‘Confessions’, apparently the media was baying for my blood and was waiting for that opportunity to pull me down… I really don’t think I matter that much to the Telugu media, so I disregard that completely…
Anyways, time will tell I suppose, but I have to declare, this was the film I set out make!
I thought as a parting shot, let me leave you guys on PFC with some EXCLUSIVE scenes from the movie, which didn’t quite make it to the original film.
Sorry about the quality, we had to load stuff off directly from the FCP.
(I mean it, the quality is horrible, but I don’t have the bandwith to support such a large file upload–so my apologies in advance, also it is somehow really important for me to show this and get it out of my system!)
Anyways,before I conclude…A big thank you for the people who supported me on this venture and a bigger thank you for the few you loved the film passionately.
One last toast to my dear sweet AB…..cheers!
the moving-in scene (complete version)
the unseen accident scene
the epic kite fight scene
the angst ridden drunk duo scene
THE END
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I was shocked to read Jeevi’s review of AB. I think you are in the wrong industry. Seriously. I cant degrade my own people still i stand by what i said. Good luck.
Dilip, Jeevi is another Taran Adarsh. In fact his reviews seem to reek of Adarshitis. Initially Telugu movies had some great critics like Gudipoodi Sri Hari. But these new websites like Idlebrain.com, Telugucinema.com are staffed with people who have no clue about movies. The only person online whom i have seen having good knowledge of movies is Srinivas Kanchibotla, but then he is not a regular reviewer.
Fortunately there has been a site, Navatarangam.com, which publishes movies and movies articles in Telugu, and by people who are cinema literate. I hope that site does gain prominence. Idlebrain.com, Greatandhra.com and Telugucinema.com are 3rd rate tabloid sites.
Right now the rot in Tollywood is all pervasive. The movie industry is dominated by a handful of families. The TV and electronic media, have become shameful PR agents of the stars, making even a rubbish movie a hit. Every 3rd rate romance is a “sensitive love story” and every time NTR Jr hams it up, the media goes into raptures about “another brilliant performance”. Every one is sold out, the stars, the media, the websites, it has become like a Mafia now.
@ Anish
I am happy you accomplished what you wanted to show with this movie.You didnt compromise on the subject, settings, characters etc.Whoever has seen the movie ( known to me) has only positive things to say.I’ve seen it myself & had a wonderful time.What is surprising is that the movie seems to doing better in places like Vijayawada than in Hyderabad, which is quite surprising to me.Please dont let the media affect your style of filmmaking.I personally look forward to more such movies from you.
@dilipr
Jeevi is an overrated critic.Atleast Taran has a good command over the language & has some flair in writing.I dislike Jeevi’s style.It is very pedestrian-not at all impressive.
Jeevi,i thought,was point-on this time around.The movie worked in parts…and there were definitely two distinct parts–pre and post interval.Weaving both the parts coherently would have made better sense.The lead actor,Kamal,was fabulous,the songs were very earnest and earthy.But honestly,the movie leaves you with an incomplete feeling.Yeah,some ppl loved the auto race….i detested it.Found it too made-up.So was the bomb blast…nope,doesnt work.Look,the movie was beautifully shot n all…but it definitely fell short of expectations.In the end,i came out with nothing but a few well shot images and nothing else.Movie did not stay with me.Ohh yea…the lingo sometimes was not easily understandable.
Hi Anish,
The Movie was really good… i feel bad that ppl dont give a chance for a good movie but can watch a crap movie. Dont be disheartened…. believe in u r self & make movie that u REALLY want to make…dont make same movies like what others do…
Cheers …. Go raging for the next venture….
Raat Gayi Baat Gayi….
Deepak
My problem with Telugu film critics is the way they look at the film.Instead of looking it as a creative work of art they see it as a junk of reel.
Thanks Anish for the exclusive clips!
While I didn’t think AB was a ground breaking film as such, I did however fairly enjoy it. It was an honest film, a film made with good heart. I sincerely wish you well for your future, hope to see you come up with even better films.
Well even though the film had good music and photography,it had big loopholes> the movie was neither realistic nor an out and out entertainer. It came in between and it was stretched out more then it should be, so lets not put the blame on critics and audience…..views of an avg moviegoer
good luck
Anish, never say goodbye. More positive north-indian reviews coming soon. :-)
anish bhai,
please read this article on NT.com about AB.
http://navatarangam.com/2008/12/salam-sekhar-kammula/
Anish,
Good effort. Expect more from you.
Anish,
I saw this film with tushar @ Srinivasa 35mm….
First of all it was a very good effort from your team to make a good film where you made everyone act…I liked everything about the film….the way it was shot, Back ground music, music and everything….
My 2 cents…
1) I donno what was your strategy for promotion but that definetly didnt workout….
2) The hindu muslim angle in the film didnt help you in getting any crowds…I’m not saying that you should have changed it to a total hindu love story but….that aspect could have been used in promoting your film in a intelligent manner…I think it came as a suprise for most of the viewers…
3) For this I dont blame you or anyone its general public that i blame….I think many people went in to the theaters expecting it as Shekar kammula’s film but what they saw was anish’s film ….so for some of them its a Hindu-muslim love story….they went into the theaters expecting something they got something…
All these reactions of mine are from a guy who is in US and what ever i heard about the film while I was in India…
Anyways…I enjoyed the film and I will definetly look forward to your next film…BTW kamal kamaraju rocked…..
Anish,
Honestly, I would have been surprised had Avakai Biryani actually set the cash registers ringing.
No offense, but having seen earlier Sekhar Kammula films, I was disappointed that your Amigos came up with such an insipid narration and screenplay.
Having said that, I don’t think you should be defensive and try to discuss away any critiques of the film.Ok, you had a chance to direct a movie, and you put in a honest effort.Period.
Kamal Kamaraju is here to stay though, provided he manages his career well.And Bindu would also get a few good roles, I suppose.I am not sure if the guy who played Masterji’s role was making his debut, but I failed to understand the need to rehash Mutyala Muggu dialogues.Is that the best your writers could come up with? But the actor is good.
I reckon the producers would have made a decent profit on the table.Can’t say that about the distributors though.
I hope this movie serves as a mild warning to the Amigos; just because Anand and Happy Days exceeded the expectations and created ‘brand recognition’, doesn’t mean you guys can take the basics of film making (screen play, narrative etc) for granted.If you do that, there would be no difference between an Amigos film and a regular tollywood film.Best of luck for the future !
@ Kumar N
The guy who played Masterji is Rao Ramesh & not a debutant.Watch Gamyam- he’s done quite well in it as naxalite on the run.
I like the way “the moving-in scene” was shot. It reminds me of some common scenes in malgudi days.
but you know what?!!….I don’t think the town audience is ready for such “normal” -paced movies.
I attribute it to the lack of respect for theatre arts in AP.
I just finished watching a German Film “Im Juli”….if you get time, try to watch it!
अनिश à¤à¤¾à¤ˆ असà¥à¤¸à¤²à¤¾à¤® वालेकà¥à¤®
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वह ” कà¥à¤› लोग ” कà¥à¤µà¥‡ के मेंडक है ,वैसे ही रहना ,देखना, सबकà¥à¤› वैसे ही पसंद करेंगे,सो ,….आप सिरà¥à¤« ..जैसा आप का मन कहेगा.. उसीकी ही सà¥à¤¨à¤¿à¤ .,आप à¤à¤• अचà¥à¤šà¥‡ निरà¥à¤¦à¥‡à¤¶à¤• है इस में कोई शक नहीं. ..अलà¥à¤²à¤¾à¤¹ आप को कामियाबी दे (आमीन ),यह शà¥à¤à¤•à¤¾à¤®à¤¨à¤¾à¤µà¥‹à¤‚ के साथ .
सैफ अली गोरे सयà¥à¤¯à¤¦
मेरे विचार पढिये http://navatarangam.com/2008/12/salam-sekhar-kammula/
Thanks@Sethumadhavan.
What amuses me is the way some people blame the audience for the movie not working properly.
Any way, here’s wishing Anish all the best for his next movie.
dear avinash,
dont worry for the result….you are a director, not a businessman to make a movie keeping in view the cash registers & cinema is an art.
i am surprised to see all those reviews and to find out how a good movie can be killed by insensitive reviews.
we all liked it…and look forward for more such movies fm you. next time, you can improve upon the result.
you are prooved as a good thinking director with this movie.all the best for your future project
I saw the movie today. Loved the movie. Heart touching and decent mix of everything. And what’s great is, my 5yr old ABCD whose interest is never captured by anything other than cartoons, watched this with great interest
Thanks Anish and best wishes for many more good movies to come. I promise, I’ll watch your next one in the theatre.